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Taiwan Challenges Its Neighbors

The territorial disputes between China and its Southeast Asian
neighbors over islands in the South China Sea have received
considerable attention from an anxious international community.
There has been even more global angst about the flare up of
tensions between China and Japan over the Diaoyu/Senkaku Islands in
the East China Sea. Concern about those feuds—especially the
Sino-Japanese confrontation—is understandable, given the
potential for miscalculation and escalation.

But it’s important to note that there is another, increasingly
assertive party to both disputes: Taiwan. And the Taiwanese have
not been shy about pressing their claims. That adds a volatile
element to the controversies.

Taipei has not only asserted ownership of portions of the South
China Sea; it has managed to establish a significant physical
presence there. Taiwan controls the Pratas—the largest island
group, known locally as the Donghsa Islands—and Taiping, the
largest of the hotly contested Spratly Islands. In September 2012,
a group of thirty prominent Taiwanese, including national
legislators, landed on Taiping to inspect the security situation.
The coast guard conducted a live-fire exercise for the delegation
during that visit, much to the annoyance of countries with
competing claims.

The Taiwanese government summarily rejected all complaints.
“Taiping Island is part of the Republic of China’s territory,”
stated Wang kuo-jan, an official with the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in response to Vietnam’s diplomatic
protest. He added that “no one has the right to protest over
Taiwan’s exercise of its sovereignty rights there.”

But incidents between Taipei and other claimants in the South
China Sea have been mild compared to the tensions with Japan over
the Diaoyu/Senkaku Islands. Matters came to a head in late September 2012 when a
comic-opera naval battle involving water cannons erupted between
Japanese patrol ships and a flotilla of dozens of Taiwanese fishing
boats and coast guard vessels.

Taiwan is now a wild card
in what are already some tense, worrisome
confrontations.

It might be tempting to smirk at such an episode, but
anti-Japanese ethnic animosity has flared on Taiwan. Indeed, there
have been angry demonstrations in Taiwanese cities, punctuated by
burning the Japanese flag, just as on the mainland. Thus far, there
has been markedly more hostility directed against Tokyo’s claims
than against Beijing’s. Indeed, PRC officials have sought to spin
Taiwan’s conduct as proof that “all Chinese,” irrespective of
political differences on other issues, consider the islands Chinese
territory.

Some of the underlying reasons for Taiwan’s territorial claims
in the South China and East China seas are not hard to discern.
There are vast, valuable fishing waters in both arenas, and
commercial fishing is a crucial industry in Taiwan. It also is
increasingly likely that there are large reservoirs of oil and
natural gas under those waters. In other words, substantial
economic stakes are involved in the territorial disputes, and
neither Taiwan nor any other claimant is about to abandon such
potential riches.

But in Taiwan’s case, another factor also may be at play,
especially with regard to the Diaoyu/Senkaku issue. Taipei has
called for trilateral talks to resolve that controversy, thus
challenging the global perception that it is a purely bilateral
controversy between Tokyo and Beijing. Taiwanese officials are also
pressing for multilateral negotiations regarding the various claims
in the South China Sea. Taking a more proactive stance on the
territorial disputes—which has clearly been the case over the
past year—might be a clever ploy to gain de facto recognition
as a sovereign actor from Beijing, Tokyo, and other governments.
Even though none of those countries is willing to establish formal
relations with Taipei, they may have to deal with Taiwan as a key
party to what are becoming ever more dangerous disputes.

Being accorded such respect, however grudgingly, would have
implications for Taiwan’s international position. The island’s
diplomatic status hangs by a thread, with only about two dozen
nations maintaining official ties to Taipei. And all of them are
small nations that Taiwan has effectively bribed with financial
inducements to refrain from switching diplomatic recognition to
Beijing. That fading strategy cannot endure much
longer—especially as China’s economic resources and influence
continue to mount.

Injecting itself as a major player in volatile territorial
disputes may be a last-ditch, substitute strategy for gaining
international recognition and respect. In any case, Taiwan is now a
wild card in what are already some tense, worrisome confrontations.
Washington and other governments need to carefully monitor this
latest troubling development.